Written by

Dan D’Ambrosio

Free Press Staff Writer

In the end, IBM blinked, telling the state Department of Labor Thursday it had no objection to the number of employees in Essex Junction who lost their jobs last month being released — 419 — as long as their names were kept confidential.

The Labor Department had already agreed that the names of the employees qualified for an exemption from release under the statute requiring IBM to notify the state of mass separations of 25 or more employees. IBM had first asked for confidentiality of not only the names, but also of the overall number, prompting Gov. Peter Shumlin to advise the company on Wednesday to “tear off the Band-Aid” and release the number.

“The only thing I’d say is IBM is incredibly important to Vermont, and I value our collaborative relationship with them,” Shumlin said Thursday. “And I’m grateful that we all came to the same conclusion that transparency was the best way for us all to help these displaced employees get connected with a bright future.”

Lee Conrad, national coordinator of Alliance@IBM, an employee group based in Binghamton, N.Y., also gave his “kudos” to Shumlin and the Labor Department for pressing IBM to release the number.

Alliance@IBM has estimated that about 3,300 IBM employees in the United States and Canada have lost their jobs as a result of the separations made by the company in June. In a conference call with analysts on Wednesday, IBM said it took a $1 billion charge for “workforce rebalancing” in the second quarter.

Conrad said he sent an email to 25,000 former and current IBM employees and Alliance members on Thursday, thanking Shumlin and the Labor Department for “standing their ground” and getting the numbers released.

“This is important. This is a crack we’ve needed for quite some time,” Conrad said. “Maybe we can start duplicating this around the country.”

Based on attendance at a job fair and seminars it sponsored for ex-IBMers, the state had been estimating the size of the separation at about 325 workers. Essex Town Manager Pat Scheidel told the Free Press on June 14 that he believed about 450 IBM employees would lose their jobs, missing the final tally by just 31.

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Scheidel said in June that he had always been within 50 of estimating IBM cuts in the past. He could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.

The cut of 419 workers in June represents about 10 percent of the workforce in Essex Junction by the best estimates. IBM does not release the number of people who work at the facility, but most observers believe it is now around 4,000.

The first layoffs in Essex Junction, since the plant’s opening in 1957, came in 1994, when 300 employees were let go. The drastic reduction in the workforce in Essex Junction, however, came between 2001, when the plant hit a record high of 8,500 workers, and 2003, when the employment level had dropped to 6,200 workers.

Starting in 2009, IBM stopped releasing the number of employees affected by job reductions in Essex Junction.

Labor Commissioner Annie Noonan said in a statement Thursday that she was “very pleased” IBM had decided to lift its objection to releasing the number of employees affected by the latest mass separation.

“IBM is a key employer in Vermont, and we continue to be grateful for its commitment to Vermont and to its commitment to working with us to get through this difficult time,” Noonan said.

She said the Labor Department will continue to hold job fairs to connect laid-off workers with other employers.

“It is clearly an incredibly difficult time for those employees who have been laid off. The impact to the workers and their families can be painful, but the fact that they are an educated and skilled workforce will serve them well in transitioning to new jobs in Vermont,” Noonan said.